Somebody Like You (Starlight Hill Series Book 2) (15 page)

She flounced out of bed, naked again, because Billy had a way of doing that to her. The robe went back on and she  made her way to the kitchen and her coffee.

So he’d stormed the castle after all. All because he’d kept a membership card she’d given him ten years ago. He was good. No denying that. Unless it was all real, and the odds of that were probably not in her favor.  How often did he  clean out his wallet? Maybe he’d won a  game the day he’d found the card again. Refused to get rid of it after that. Superstitions, nothing more.

Wait. How pathetic could one woman be? Why couldn’t she believe he wanted her? That just maybe they’d had something special between them, that unidentifiable spark even ten years ago?

Brooke picked up her cellphone and dialed the one person who might understand. “Are you busy?”

Ivey sounded groggy. “Just getting up. I had a delivery yesterday.”

“How did it go?”

“Poor Jessie was in labor for eighteen hours. She actually begged me to go find a gun and shoot her.”

Brooke gulped her coffee. “Great. And you still want to have a baby?”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t wait. She had a beautiful baby boy. All’s well that ends well.”

“If you say so.”

One more baby boy brought into the world. In those rash moments when the moon was full and Brooke allowed herself to even think about having a child someday, all she’d ever wanted was a baby girl. A tough little girl who would kick ass everywhere she went.  A girl she could teach not to be afraid of anything, certainly not something as stupid as the dark.

“What’s up? Everything okay with opening night?”

“Everything’s on schedule for December fifth . A very Christmassy opening, white garlands of light hung in the trees. I’m even thinking about getting a horse and buggy for old fashioned rides. Not sure about that yet, but either way it’s going to be great. And I slept with Billy.”

“Wait. Did I hear you right? There at the end. It sounded like you said—”

“Yes! You heard right.”

“Wow. Okay, just wow. You slept with your high school crush.”

“No! He was never a crush. He was my enemy.”

“Your frenemy, you mean.” Ivey giggled.

“We were friendly, when he wasn’t annoying the hell out of me. When he signed my petitions.”

“Stop trying to distract me with petitions. Tell me what it was like and don’t spare me any details. You owe me!”

But Brooke found that she couldn’t kiss and tell. Not this time. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but this was new. Different. Tender somehow. Strange because she didn’t think guys could be tender. And he’d certainly been rough and strong too, when he needed to be. And stamina. Yeah, there was that.

“Well?” Ivey was on the other end of the line, waiting.

“What do you want from me? I’m not a poet.”

“Oh, so it’s like that? You can’t even speak of it. Wow.”

“No! It’s not like that.”

“All right, then, give me something here. I haven’t seen Jeff in twenty-four hours. Remember, he started a new rotation? I’m the wife of a resident. Give me a break.”

“I’ll give you one word: stamina.”

Ivey sighed. “Oh yeah, that. That’s important.”

Brooke laughed. “I should go.”

“No, wait.” Ivey said. “What are you going to do now? I mean, he’s your boss.”

Whether he’d officially signed ownership over to Pop didn’t really matter in the end. Billy had been the one to hire her, like it or not. “I don’t know.”

Brooke said goodbye to Ivey and put her phone down. It promptly buzzed across the Formica counter top. A short text from Billy read only:
dinner tonight, 6 PM my place.

Not a question. This time, his confidence didn’t piss her off.  He’d have to be crazy not to realize she wanted to see him again. And again. It took all of a second for Brooke to type in her reply:
sure.

Brooke spent the rest of the morning working in the small office next to the tasting rooms. Her staff was finally coming together. George, Eric told her, had been apoplectic at Eric’s resignation. She still had plenty of resumes to go through, though, and maybe even more of George’s employees to hire. Not to mention spreadsheets the accountant had sent and a forecast budget for spending. She’d start out with a small crew, which was fine since this was a small family operation.

She’d already hired Genevieve from All the Tea and China to cater on opening night. Her beautifully decorated Bundt cakes were becoming a legend in town. They tasted like they’d been dipped in a mixture of milk and heaven. Sooner or later she’d tell Eileen that the menu was set, and by then she’d likely be too preoccupied with her new dating life to give it a second thought. That was the plan, anyway.

Not that Brooke’s plans always worked out smoothly, with no kinks along the way. As in her original plan to keep it professional with Billy, which had died a thousand deaths last night. They were now so professional that she was acquainted with his scar, and the way every muscle in his body tensed when she licked his earlobe.

Very professional.

Twisting away from the front door, Brooke worked on her computer, replying to a few emails, personal and otherwise. Mom wanted to know about Thanksgiving, which was coming up. Brooke fired off a quick reply that sure, she’d be spending it with Mom at the farm.

She checked in on Stephan’s blog. Quite a few comments, none of which she took seriously. Several women claimed to be the woman in the photo. One of them calling herself “HollerGurl” claimed that the boots belonged to none other than Billy’s ex, Fallon. One commenter wanted to know why anyone should care, while another one insisted he had the scoop if Stephan cared to raise the price to a thousand dollars .

For the love of Pete, they really needed to get a movie theater in town.

The winery’s social media campaign was gaining followers every day, and their mailing list had grown to two hundred subscribers. Before long it was lunch time and Brooke’s stomach growled. Gratified, she realized she hadn’t thought of Billy in about two hours. Brooke got up to stretch and turned to see Gigi standing just inside the door.

She startled and fell back in her chair. “Make a sound next time! You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry about that. I thought you heard me come in.” Gigi closed the door to the office.

Uh-oh. Why did she suddenly feel like a caged lion? “So. How are you?”

“Good, good. I would ask you that question, but I already know the answer.”

“Now wait a minute—”

Gigi held up her hand. “Save it. I’ve already heard it all from Billy. You two are together now, and I’m to sit back and accept it. Even if you both denied it a few feet from here, not two months ago.”

“But—”

Gigi sighed deeply. “Honestly, I get so tired being right all the time. Is it wrong to want to be surprised every now and then?”

That pissed Brooke off and she reached across her desk and pointed. “You aren’t always right.”

“Really.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“I meant what I said then. I wasn’t interested in Billy.”

“But things have changed.”

“Well, yes.” She squirmed in her seat, not used to being interrogated about the men she dated. But this was Billy Turlock, and she tried with every ounce in her being to give Gigi the benefit of the doubt. She’d heard the stories. Understood protection mode all too well.

“Why now? Did you suddenly realize how much he’s worth?”

It seemed as though the top of Brooke’s head would fly open with steam, cartoon-like, and rip right through the ceiling. “What did you say to me?”

“I know you wanted this vineyard. I know you’d approached the bank about buying it. Maybe this place is what you really want. Is it true?”

“Why is it so unbelievable to you that someone would want Billy just for who he is? Have you ever taken a good look at him?”

“Because I know you, Brooke, and women like you. Beautiful women who take what they want, and always have a hidden agenda. Always. The guy is never enough. They want more. Stability. A future. Money. You’re no different. There’s a reason, I know it, and I’ll get to the bottom of it before all is said and done.”

“You’re not just insulting me, you know. You’re insulting Billy. Acting like he alone isn’t enough.”

“Of course he is. He’s a family man, grounded and down to earth. He’s perfect for the right woman, but I think you and I both know that’s not you.”

Brooke sucked in a hard breath as the words kicked her in the gut. She would have argued, except that Gigi was probably right. Brooke wasn’t the marrying kind and she wasn’t going to spit out a bunch of kids. If that’s what Billy wanted, she wasn’t it. 

But she couldn’t give Gigi the satisfaction of knowing she’d hit the bulls-eye. This was all a passing fancy on his part, because in the end they weren’t right for each other. Sooner or later, Billy would figure that out.

“Listen. Billy misses baseball, no matter what he says about being with family again and back in his hometown. The vineyard is never going to satisfy him, and neither is this little town. The best thing for him to do is audition for the sportscaster job at Fox Sports next week,” Gigi said.

“Next week?” There was still so much to do before their Grand Opening. Besides, wasn’t he getting enough baseball hanging out with the local team?

“I’m sure he’ll take care of his obligations here, but after that he needs to re-think everything. I encouraged this little sideline diversion of his, but I knew he wasn’t done with baseball and the next logical step is broadcasting. This is what his agent wants him to do, and I said I’d help.”

She couldn’t see Billy sitting behind a desk. Brooke’s mouth grew dry. “Is that what he wants?”

Gig scowled. “He doesn’t know what he wants, like most men. He needs to be told, and led in such a way as to think it was his idea in the first place. I have four sons. I know whereof I speak.”

Really. And Brooke thought women like Gigi ate their young. “Well, I think Billy knows what he wants, and he’ll let you know once he figures it out.”

“Okay, we’ll play it your way. Maybe he’ll stay in this little town and be miserable. Is that what you want for him? You don’t even know what
you
want. First you’re not interested in him, and now you are.”

Enough already. Brooke stood up and came out from behind her desk. “You want to know why I changed my mind? Fine, I’ll tell you even if it’s none of your business. He had a membership card!”

The puzzled expression on Gigi’s face would have been comical had Brooke not felt like a homicidal maniac. With one swift move, Brooke turned Gigi around in her tracks and shoved her out the door.

*****

Brooke would dress in her sexiest undergarments just in case. The silky black thong and matching demi bra would be perfect for tonight. In case Billy was thinking along the same lines she was. They’d been unfairly interrupted this morning by a woman who wouldn’t be getting a Christmas card from Brooke this year. Or any other year. Ever. The woman was so obviously trying to get between Brooke and Billy by intimidating her. Feeding her with vicious lies about sports casting jobs Billy wouldn’t be interested in if hell froze over.

He was here to stay in Starlight Hill. Kisses like that couldn’t lie. 

Brooke found her come-and-get-it-big-boy bra in no time, but not only could she not find the matching thong, there was no clean underwear in the entire house. Her kingdom for a pair of panties! This is what happened when she worked too hard and neglected her laundry. Well, no time to do it now. She’d just go commando.

She pulled on her low slung jeans, praying she wouldn’t chafe in her special places. 

A few minutes later she knocked on his back door, and when he opened it in jeans and a long sleeved Henley that strained against his pecs, Brooke sucked in a breath. His hotness factor had grown by leaps and bounds since this morning.

He pulled her inside the door and straight into his arms. “Should we take up where we left off now, or are you hungry?”

Nice the way their thoughts ran so parallel to each other for a change. Then he kissed her, so deep and long and hard that she lost her footing when they came up for air. It also rendered her temporarily incapable of a reply.

“Let’s eat.” He smiled and nodded, as if kissing her the way he had was a daily occurrence.

Meanwhile she felt pinned to the spot, practically incoherent. “Um, yeah. It smells good in here.”

“Steaks.” He walked toward the kitchen and she followed.

“Who taught you how to cook?” Hopefully Eileen had. Brooke didn’t want to hear about an old girlfriend, and she realized too late she’d taken a risk asking. Maybe his ex-fiancée had taught him how to cook. If so, she didn’t want to hear about it.

“I did one of those local news spots a few years ago which was a cooking demo. The cook went on to get her own show. Me? I just begged her to show me how to cook a good steak.”

“Which I’ll bet she was more than willing to do.” Brooke took a seat at the small two person round table in the kitchen nook. Her lips still felt bruised from that kiss, and she ignored the pinch in her heart that made her miss him when he was only four feet away.